Keeping Busy

What up. I hope everyone is doing well and keeping busy, I certainly have. Here's how things have shaped up for me as of late on and off of the poker tables:

Friday + Saturday

After having a slow start to the month, mostly due to being a bit burnt out after putting in heavy volume at the end of February to retain my SNE status, I decided that I would have to stay in and work for the majority of the weekend. Unfortunately, that meant skipping a trip over to Victoria with a couple of friends and this put me in a bad mood on Friday.

My play was certainly reflected by my mood and I was playing like a complete spewtard. I was trying to make way too many things happen to compensate for missing out on having fun with my friends but obviously this only resulted in me losing money. I was pretty frustrated by the end of my session and finished down around $1K.

Saturday was much better. I came to the tables with a ton of discipline and focus and ran good enough to recover all of my loses in about half the time that I put in on Friday. I was playing really well and don't think that I made more than 1 or 2 minor mistakes the entire session. The good session put me in a much better mood and I decided to join three buddies for "stick and puck" that evening-basically drop in ice hockey with minimal equipment. I played ice hockey as a kid growing up and miss it a lot...it felt good to put on the skates again, despite being more than a little rusty lol. We went out for a few drinks afterwards but kept it pretty low key.

Sunday

Sunday was another day that I dedicated to poker. The session was extremely frustrating...I felt like I was playing very well for most of the session and was getting pretty unlucky. 80% of the session seemed to be taking beats or getting coolered and I was chasing losses for the entire day up until the last hour or so. Fortunately, I instantly caught fire with a good run of cards and recovered everything and then some before I quit at the end of the day.

Here's a hand that put me into the black near the end of my session. I didn't play it well-in fact I played it really bad. My bet sizing was awful and river call more than suspect. I actually checked the river for pot control because I was somewhat readless and figured JJ and QQ could easily be in his range. However, it was against a random opponent who I didn't trust and was playing pretty badly but it mostly just came down to me being sick and tired of folding/getting coolered all day. I literally said "f*ck you, I call" to my screen, lol.

No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (7 handed) -
BB ($100)
UTG ($208.65)
MP1 ($294.55)
MP2 ($282)
CO ($200)
Button ($245)
Hero (SB) ($406.65)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, A
1 fold, MP1 bets $4, MP2 calls $4, 2 folds, Hero raises $20, 1 fold, MP1 calls $16, 1 fold

Flop: ($46) 4, 9, J (2 players)
Hero bets $26, MP1 calls $26

Turn: ($98) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $48, MP1 calls $48

River: ($194) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets $200.55 (All-In), Hero calls $200.55

Total pot: $595.10

Results:
Hero had Q, A (flush, Ace high).
MP1 had J, Q (two pair, Queens and Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $592.10

Monday

After putting in long hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I decided to take Monday off. I got in a good workout and met my mom for Japanese food for dinner before heading "home." I'm sure that most people know that Monday night was a big, big night...that's right, the season finale of "The Bachelor!" Haha, I don't really want to get into why I watch the show...it actually started as a big joke amongst my old roommates and I and we'd turn it into a drinking game or whatever. We watched some pretty suspect shows that's for sure but I guess I have to admit that I'm actually entertained by the Bach now seeing how I ended up watching the 2 hour finale + 1 hour after show with my mother. Hello ladies.

Tuesday

Tuesday seemed like a repeat of Sunday. I was playing alright, probably worse than I was on Sunday but I was running really badly for most of the session. I lost an $800+ pot with the 2nd nut flush against top set, got 1 outed for a $400 pot etc. etc. However, just like on Sunday I caught on fire near the end of the session and actually turned what was likely a -$1.5K session at one point into a +$1K session by the time it was all said and done.

Basically, I feel like I've been swimming against the current all month but am playing fairly well on the whole. The games have been very good and this month hasn't been terribly stressful...I don't think that I've been up or down more than $2K. Currently, I'm up a pretty meaningless $1K and am looking at $5K or $6K in bonuses by months end. Hopefully I can build on my small profit and turn this month into a pretty successful one by the 31st...it certainly has potential and I'm optimistic at this point in time.

Today

I decided to take today off and focus on the little things. I set my alarm for 10:30am and ended up rolling out of bed by 11am (been waking up around 2pm for most of the month so this was quit a feat). I had a good breakfast of eggs + fruit and hit the gym for over an hour. My laundry's in the dryer and this blog is almost done so things have been pretty productive for me. Reading this back I realize how sad this must seem to most people but yes, waking up before noon, eating, exercising and doing my laundry earns me a gold fking star in my books. Anyways, I'm going out tonight to get my drink on but will try to keep things under control.


gl at the tables!